2015 BMW X5 SUV review: The best grand touring car with the most technology

Should you buy? What to buy

In the rarefied world of high-end SUVs, there are no bad vehicles. Whether you pick the X5, Cadillac Escalade, Land Rover Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz GL or M-Class, or Audi Q5 or Q7, you’ll waft down the highway in comfort. The same goes for the Acura MDX, one of our favorite upscale-but-not-that-upscale, medium-large SUVs. You’ll probably be nearly as happy in the still-cheaper Nissan Pathfinder with its zero-gravity seats or the excellent Toyota Highlander with a dashboard parcel shelf for your phone, a console that holds three dozen soda cans or multiple iPads, and the same maddening way features are paired as on BMW. Everybody makes good SUVs for long-distance touring. Decide how much performance, price, and prestige you want.

If this is a highway cruiser, you’ll want three packages that give you adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, lane departure warning, surround and rear view cameras, and the forward collision warning and collision mitigation features that build on the camera and sensor readings, total $4,500. About this point, you need to see the dealer to make sure you’re getting what you believe you’re getting. Want ventilated seats? Add $1,350 paired with multi-contour seats (20-way adjustments) as the luxury seating package. You’ll get an even better ride with a rear air suspension and dynamic damper (shock absorber) control that reacts instantly to changes in the road; you can have that for $1,500, or $1,700 with third-row seating, suitable only for children. If you want multi-way adjustable rear seats ($500), you can’t have third-row seats.

Nicely set up for long distance touring, you’re looking at $75,000 or $1,000 a month on a lease. If you live where deer roam freely, add $2,300 for night vision that really works. That means you are without BMW’s active steering that needs fewer turns lock-to-look at low speed, more at high speed; without the audiophile Bang & Olufsen sound system at $4,500 but probably with the Harman Kardon upgrade audio ($875); without the DVD player and dual 9.2-inch LCD monitors for the rear seat ($2,200). Avoid the ceramic dashboard controls ($650) which add a hefty, cool-to-the-touch feel and take away the solid grip that comes from the standard rubber edging. You can probably live without the leather dashboard ($1,200) and unless you’re a fetishist about car-cleaning, avoid the $1,950 ivory leather interior. With every options box checked, you’re close to $90,000 and more than $100,000 with the V8 X5.

BMW X5 versus the competition

What competitors should you consider? Compared to the X5, the Mercedes-Benz GL is 9 inches longer (close to Cadillac Escalade) and provides more room in the third row, but the two are frequently cross-shopped. Because the X5 is newer, the BMW has more and better technology and that is why it’s the better choice. The Benz is handicapped by a 7-inch center LCD where BMW’s measures 10.2 inches. Both offer diesel engines to provide 600-plus miles of driving. As costly as the BMW X5 is, you can spend even more on the GL. That could be a plus or a minus, depending on your social circles. Just in case, BMW is rumored to be readying a GL/Escalade-size BMW X7 as a 2018 model.

If you think vehicles should be grouped and compared by length, the Acura MDX (194 inches) is more than a match for the uber-premium X5. Loaded, the MDX costs the same as a stripped X5. That MDX offers adaptive cruise, blind spot detection, self-steering lane departure warning, a rear entertainment system, and three-row seating. The MDX is drop dead simple to order: choose front or all-wheel drive, then choose tech package, entertainment package, advance package (more tech entertainment). The first four years, the $58,000 BMW may be cheaper to lease than the Acura because of BMW’s high-residual value and free maintenance. After that, the Acura will likely be cheaper on maintenance and repairs.

Until the arrival of a newer and better Cadillac Escalade, Audi Q7, Infiniti QX80, Land Rover Range Rover, Lexus LX, or Mercedes GL comes along, the BMW is the best ultra-premium SUV you can buy, and thus it earns our Editors’ Choice award. If money can’t buy happiness, $75K leases you relaxed and safe long-distance driving.

Tagged In

My favourite SUV is 2015 Porsche Macan. Isn’t it better than the BMW X5? BTW, I don’t know much about vehicles.

http://www.brainsnacksdaily.com/ Wait

The Porsche is a very nice SUV. These 2 SUVs cater slightly different markets.

The BMW is very plush, luxurious, quiet ride. It is built more towards luxury, convenience and utility in mind. It is also filled with technology and the subscription for many of those features will run out in a few years. But it’s the perfect everyday vehicle if you can afford it. But no longer is BMW a driver’s car except for certain models.

The Porsche is more of a driver’s SUV with design cues from Audi.

Being a BMW owner, the new 550xi, I can tell you to expect the BMW to be like Apple products. The machine wants to think for you. It can piss you off if you hate that. The one unrefined problem with BMW is its fuel saving features is still somewhat rough around the edges.

Overall, I love my BMW and Audi pretty much is on par. The main difference is in styling and Audi’s front wheel bias instead of BMW’s rear drive bias mechanically.

Saying one vehicle is better than the other without specifying what bag of tricks is kind of pointless. However, there are some vehicles that were just horribly designed. This BMW is not one of them. In fact, X5 and X6 sells like hot cakes.

Bill Howard

Macan is quite nice, quite new. Gives you a chance to buy a $100,000 (all in) SUV the size of the BMW X1 from Porsche. It’s two sizes down from the X5 whose natural Porsche competitor is the Cayenne.

RozzSummer

You could also buy a fully loaded 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT for the same $75,000 with much more performance and equal to the BMW in virtually every tech, comfort and utility category. I know, because I cross-shopped both and went with the Jeep. The BMW rides somewhat better, but the ergonomics on the Jeep, for me, were superior. Admittedly, the dealer experience is not what you get at BMW or Mercedes, but at least they want to deal and will drop their pants on price pretty quickly. Plus, the sound and pure thrust from a 475 hp Hemi at full wail sure beats the hell out of the BMW turbo 6 wooshing down the road :)

Rokie888

…I would rather sit inside of a BMW.

Ash

Apart form the power of the jeep SRT & yes it does sound great, the quality (especially interior) from Jeep is quite poor. I expect a lot better from their next generation

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